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The Armbar from Fifty-Fifty Guard by Keenan Cornelius

The fifty-fifty guard is a strange creature. In it you and your opponent face each other in the exact same position with your legs intertwined.

On the one hand there’s no doubt that it’s a really powerful sweeping position for whoever’s on bottom.

But on the other hand it has a reputation as a really horrible way to stall.
(Some people just rack up a few sweep points and then use the fifty-fifty to completely kill any further action, coasting until the time runs out.)

But things don’t have to be this way!

Obviously given that you’re basically in a reciprocal leglocking position there are toeholds, ankle-locks, kneebars, and heel hooks available to you from the fifty-fifty (especially in no gi).

But jiu-jitsu continues to evolve, and so there are some other really cool submissions from here that might not be as obvious!

That sounded like a really cool move, so I immediately asked him if he’d be willing to share that technique with my readers.

Well, I recently received a video clip from his forthcoming DVD series from Keenan in which he broke down the armbar from fifty-fifty guard step by step. In this must-watch clip he ALSO talked the adjustments you need to make to turn the fifty-fifty guard from a sweeping position into a platform for launching your submissions.